


same deep water

by veridical



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Ice Shenanigans, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 13:16:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10991706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veridical/pseuds/veridical
Summary: Shoma suspects that both of them don't really know what to do with this. That's okay, though.





	same deep water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [unos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unos/gifts).



> help i've fallen and i can't get up

It's been a difficult evening.

Shoma knows he should start training including more difficult jumps in his new program, even if Mihoko said "I trust you" with a smile and left him on his own for a while. Even if she told him to "chill" with a stern gaze. Even if he is still very much putting choreography over his jumps for now and will only be doing the bare minimum for the shows.

...Probably.

Shoma sighs and sits down on the ice, content to watch a little for now, winded after the step sequence that still feels fresh and unusual. He huffs in frustration — excited for something new, yet still not able to really feel the music. He misses the Fantasy, and he misses Balade.

Slowly, his surroundings become more defined as he lets go of the focus he's been trying to maintain.

Weirdly enough, not many skaters are still out here. Of course, everyone has their own ideas about training, and while he struggles to imagine it, some people actually don't enjoy it. Or maybe they are training on another rink? And why did Mihoko leave for so long?

Shoma snaps out of his thoughts when a whirlwind passes him by, and then--

"Shoma, look!" he focuses on Yuzuru who's just coming out of a triple axel and... and then there comes a very weak attempt at a cantilever.

Shoma, also, is weak, though it would be hard to describe specifically in what ways. Yuzuru throws his head back, holding onto his thighs, and almost loses control of his blades, but manages not to fall. He's laughing. Shoma wants to leave.

Yuzuru skates closer, beaming at him, and Shoma would really like to know what his own face is doing right now.

This is so unfair.

"Well? How did I do?" Yuzu smiles teasingly, which is distracting from the question, but not nearly enough.

"Well... you can do better, I think," Shoma says, momentarily startled by his own rudeness, but then relaxing. It's Yuzu. They're friends. Or something.

"You can show me?" Yuzu suggests. His eyes are smiling even more than his mouth. Shoma knows this expression too well. He has been goaded into too many quad battles for uncertain reasons, he's not gonna entertain Yuzu for... whatever excuse it is right now, really.

"Sorry, sorry, I think I really should focus on training my transitions," he blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind and bows a little — which is awkward in a sitting position, — then scrambles to get up and skates away just a bit, so as not to be disrespectful, but still establish some distance.

Yuzu is still orbiting him, he's very sure of it.

Shoma just... doesn't know what to do with it. All the hugging that's kinda... nice, and so easy with Yuzu. Their interactions slipping into something comfortable. The smiles his teammate gives him whenever he catches Shoma's eyes. He isn't ready for this.

He goes for the quadruple flip in combination, but his focus is all over the place. It's why he prefers competitions — practically the only time he is able to focus fully is during one.

He is off the axis and isn't sure what edge he lands on, but he still adds a toeloop just for the sake of it and crashes into the ice, predictably.

He turns onto his back and finds Yuzuru staring at him.

"Yuzu-kun," he utters, somehow surprised.

Yuzu stretches out a hand, and-- it would be rude not to take it, is what Shoma tells himself.

So he takes it.

Yuzu's grip is firm, the way he remembers it. Shoma quietly thinks his hands are stronger — or maybe Yuzu just gives in occasionally, when Shoma is trying to pry his wandering hands off.

Yuzu pulls him up and into a hug that he should have expected, really, and he half-stumbles half-skates forward — yet Yuzu is steady, easily keeping his balance, smiling and still gripping Shoma's hand, the other hand supporting his elbow. Grounding him, somewhat.

And even if Shoma doubts that Yuzu is the best person to ground someone, he still appreciates it. It's kinda hard to get it out sometimes, hard to express properly, but it's there. He starts to think of something to say when Yuzu just takes his hands away and immediately goes for a tickle and a hair ruffle, both at once.

"You looked so frightened for one moment there," he says, laughing again.

"Ah! No, no, this is cheating," Shoma pleads but, of course, it doesn't yield any results.

Yuzuru gets into full-on assault, and Shoma looks around for anyone to help, but they're alone. He briefly considers screaming for help. No, it's futile.

Well, he is not going down without a fight.

He finds a moment, ducks out of Yuzu's grasp and skates away, putting distance between them with quick crossovers.

Unfortunately, a rink is not a very good place to run away from someone.

Yuzuru, predictably, catches up with him at the opposite boards, hugging him around the midsection. Shoma briefly wishes he could suplex him.

"Got you!" Yuzuru exclaims. "Now... will you do a cantilever for me?"

Shoma tries to twist out of his grasp with no avail.

"Why do you even want that?" he asks, finally. His breathing is all over the place from the unexpected speed skating. Yuzu's hands are hugging him tight.

"Just do."

"Well, I'm not doing it," he replies, perfectly reasonable.

"Even if I tickle you?" Yuzu suggests. Why can't he just let it go?

Shoma manages to twist around to look at him. Yuzuru is... breathing just a bit too heavy after their little chase, grinning and almost gloating, and Shoma is stupidly, fiercely glad Yuzu decided to take part in the shows in the end, but also, a little bit, scared.

That doesn't mean he'll give in that easily. He tries to get Yuzu's side with one hand, but Yuzu is quick — he intercepts Shoma's hand and holds it firmly.

And there's something in that simple handhold, twice already in the past several minutes, because Yuzu is not letting go, and his expression has morphed into something softer, and they are so close. The other hand is resting on his waist, not tickling at all. Yuzu's lips look unnaturally dry, and Shoma slowly realises he sees him wearing lip gloss most of the time.

"I'm sorry," he says without thinking.

Yuzu's gaze finds his eyes. "Huh?"

He's pretty sure he's about to do something really stupid, and pretty sure he should apologise for that, but somehow, Yuzu still doesn't realise it. He should probably apologise for staring at his lips, and for running away and for keeping Yuzu from practicing, and it's all way too much to say.

The only thing to do is lean up.

He's too fast, too unused to this, his lips pressing awkwardly into the corner of Yuzu's mouth, and he's pretty ready to run, but then Yuzu squeezes his waist, tilts his head a little, slotting their mouths together and there. They kiss. Just a little, once, then another, and another one — they're short and not really how he imagined kisses to be, though he hasn't spent much time thinking about it, truth be told. He can see Yuzu's eyes, still half-open, so close. Shoma's heart is beating too fast, he realises belatedly, but his head is blissfully clear, just like in competition.

And just like that, he finds his movements, reaches deep inside himself and brings it out. It feels so natural to just reach up and fit his free hand to Yuzuru's cheek, holding it a little uncertainly. In response, Yuzuru presses his lips closer, prolonging the kiss. Shoma's fingers grasp at the longer strands of hair. He closes his eyes.

He just about manages to remember that he needs to breathe, but right then and there Yuzuru makes a soft sound in his throat and moves impossibly closer, opening his mouth at the same time. It's warm and still so very soft. Shoma shudders all over.

Yuzu is stroking his fingers softly, and Shoma kinda wants to squeeze his own fingers tighter around the hand in his grip, but he feels so soft and still so, so weak. At least Yuzu is not doing anything like tickling or demanding a cantilever or a ridiculous quad or. Because Shoma's pretty sure he would've done anything right now.

Yuzu's fingers on his waist are making little stroking gestures, and Shoma dares to bury his own hand in Yuzu's hair fully, and he remembers imagining it before. It seems natural for Yuzu to give him hair ruffles that sometimes evolve into hair-grabbing, but this... this is new. The kind of new he aches to learn more of, to fully understand and perform to the best of his abilities. To make it memorable, one-of-a-kind.

"Shoma," Yuzu whispers into his mouth, very soft, a little hoarse, and Shoma almost whimpers. He presses their lips back together, desperately, and immediately wishes he could apologise for tugging on Yuzu's hair like that, even if this boldness feels natural, even if he feels like he's finally hearing the music and it's right.

It's everything, soft and hard, warmth even more pronounced from the fact that they're standing on ice. Shoma doesn't even notice that his hand starts touching Yuzu's neck too, rubbing behind his ear, but he must be doing something right, because Yuzu moves even closer, threads their fingers together and that small gesture especially makes something break in Shoma. He is not really thinking of what they are doing, but he is feeling. It's like a crescendo. Music mounting in him, threatening to spill over, as if here, now, he must finally do a jump or a spin, or, or something. He can't put that into words, he never could, but he can show it. That's all he wants.

But Yuzu's hand starts wandering around his back, over his training shirt, stroking and scratching lightly, until it ends up on one of his sides, going higher, and higher--

He yelps. Yuzu immediately leans back, and Shoma can't really deal with the way he looks, all colored cheeks and disheveled hair. "What? What is it? I'm--"

"This tickles!" Shoma says, affronted, between gulping breaths.

Yuzu smiles so wide it must hurt, and then leans in to press his lips to Shoma's nose. Shoma splutters, leans back and almost falls. Oh. They're on ice. He forgot.

He risks a glance at Yuzuru, whose smile has turned into a cautious, calculating expression. Shoma kind of finds it cute, but he doesn't know what it means for him, here, now.

“I liked that,” he ventures, finally.

That was probably stupid.

But Yuzu smiles, and, oh. He's still holding Shoma's hand, because Shoma feels the other’s fingers caress his palm, very briefly. It's very hard not to kiss him again.

“Me too,” Yuzu says, after a pause. It's… nice to get it out there in the open. Shoma suspects that Yuzu isn't really sure what to do with this either, but. It's fine. Probably.

With the last blinding smile, Yuzu lets him go, skates away a little. Shoma misses the warmth of his skin. He should have brought some gloves. Wait, didn't Mihoko promise to bring his gloves?

He tears his eyes from Yuzu, who's still looking at him, and finds her standing by the rink. He gulps.

“I’ll be waiting for your cantilever at the show. And the flip, of course,” Yuzuru says lightly, but quietly, under his breath, and Shoma feels like his cheeks would flame up if it weren't for the fact that red blotches of skin were already there.

“Yeah,” he replies weakly and tries to push Yuzu's voice, his hands, his lips out of his mind.

Judging by the look on Mihoko's face, though, he doesn't succeed. He skates closer to where she's standing at the rinkside.

He wonders if it's too late to replace cantilever as his signature move with something else.

“Can you… help me with choreo again?” he asks in a small voice, barely looking at Mihoko. 

She smiles, and he's able to breathe again. “Of course, Shoma.”

As they do another run-through, he's not thinking about anything at all, even as he pulls into a low cantilever after a clean quad.

But he's feeling, oh, he's feeling — and he finds Yuzu watching him from the side afterwards, and Shoma smiles.


End file.
